by Bud Hilton
Is spending in our foodservice industry on its way back? What could postpone the return of restaurant spending, once the economic conditions begin to loosen up? Can the really smart marketers help to promote the return of spending in foodservice locations? The answers lie in understanding what we did to initially promote spending in a more prosperous economy.
In much better times, when marketers pushed to redirect consumer dollars from retail grocery stores to eating out, we were successful to a large degree at holding industry wallets hostage! We did an outstanding job of convincing the consumer public to dedicate a larger portion of their discretionary income to eating out. Through some carefully orchestrated advertising strategy we built a SPENDUSTRY based on the following ideas:
- With at least a two-member family income you can afford to eat out more often
- The quality of “restaurant” food is superior to most cook-at-home opportunities
- You have worked hard . . . you deserve to eat out
- Eating out is a primary entertainment avenue
- There is little time left to do home-prep meals
With the economic crunch over the past few years, consumers may have been trying very hard to cut-back on away-from-home meal consumption and it has not been easy for many reasons. Cooking and at home meal prep became a lost art in the years prior to the eco-crash; for many, eating at home has become unacceptable punishment; time and clean up, after a long day, is still a big issue; and, oh yeah . . . I like the food and friends combination so I will cut back on other entertainment spending.
It has been is very hard to give up the luxury of eating out. A large percent of this SPENDUSTRY can’t wait to return to the rewards of eating out and all indications are that improvement in economic conditions may get them there faster. What we can do as foodservice marketers is to do exactly what we did to get people in our units in the first place . . . when time were good. The 6 reasons for eat-out, mentioned above, still exist. So, the smart marketers will probably return to the same campaigns, and apply the same sound reasoning, to entice consumers to return to their restaurant habits and reward themselves NOW!
The challenge is to get behind campaigns to create “reactivity” in foodservice dine out situations . . . our industry depends on it!
V. Bud Hilton
Chairman & CEO
Genesis Group Inc., Answers Systems